Getting schooled: Active Surveillance 101 online
Course for newly diagnosed patients and those with rising PSAs who haven't yet been diagnosed
By Howard Wolinsky
The winter quarter for Active Surveillance 101 is underway.
These video programs are designed to help patients who are newly diagnosed with low-risk prostate cancer and those in “the gray zone” with rising PSAs who have not yet been diagnosed when no support groups are available.
The series is also a refresher course for old hands at Active Surveillance (AS).
The programs feature the Whites—Larry, a real patient, and his well-informed wife Nancy—meeting with experts on prostate cancer as Larry eases into AS.
There are no PowerPoint slides. Just a patient-spouse conversation with leading experts.
Three videos are availabe at https://aspatients.org/a-s-101/
AS 101
Episode 1, “Rising PSA.”
Patient Larry White and his wife Nancy visit family physician Steve Spann to learn about what Larry’s rising PSA night mean.
Episode 2. “The Urologist.”
The Whites meet with urologist Laurence Klotz, “the father of active surveillance,” to discuss the diagnosis of prostate cancer.
Episode 3. “Active Surveillance.”
The Whites have a follow-up visit with Dr. Klotz, who suggests Larry goes on Active Surveillance.
Three more videos are “in the can” and will be rolled out soon. One features pathologist Jonathan Epstein, the second-opinion guru at Johns Hopkins.
The Active Surveillance Coalition (ASC) produced the series.
ASC is made of reps from Active Surveillance Patients International, the AnCan Virtual Support Group for AS, Prostate Cancer Support Canada, the Prostate Cancer Researcher Institute (PCRI), and TheActiveSurveillor.com.
Special thanks to PCRI’s Alex Scholz and Peter Scholz and their team for recording editing the videos.
NOTE: There are no grades or tuition fees.